Runnin' by the River

I woke up this November morning thinking that I was on my way to spring break. I'm in Lawrence, Kansas, I have a full tank of gas, and it's 60 degrees and damp--what's normally an early March morning, except that it's three days before Thanksgiving. Oh yeah, and I'm in a motel with my family, and I'm due in Wichita to see relatives tomorrow.

Running from the hotel, I crossed the Kaw river and stepped onto the nice crushed gravel and sand path that runs along the top of the levee. Normally I run on sidewalks and the street, and the comparative squishiness of the softer unpaved surface takes some getting used to. The little side to side motions in my knees was felt fairly quickly, and probably thinking about my knees made the situation worse since I was trying to control the movement. I'll report that the knees are a little more sore than usual, but not in a particularly bad way.

My initial plan was to run through Lawrence and do a "Roy Williams Loop" which is through the cemetery, around James Naismith's grave, and then across the river with a spit into the river on the way across and another spit on the way back. However, thinking about crossing many streets in the daylight on a misty, cloudy morning made me re-think my strategy, and I decided to cross the river and run on the levee instead.

Since I didn't live up to one former coach's shadow, I did the next best thing. I spent the week thinking of Don Fambrough, two-time Kansas football coach who has made a second career out of being a Jayhawk Football partisan. Fortunately, Don wasn't far away. His speech was everywhere, and if you click here, you too can understand the importance of winning the Missouri game.